Ancient Egypt

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Ancient Egypt

• Intellectual Life

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Egyptian Creation Story

• Believed that the earth was created when a hill
  emerged from the waters of chaos.
• This made sense to them because they often saw
  islands of mud appearing in the Nile, especially
  during the flood season.

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Atum

• The creator-god emerged from the waters standing
  on this hill.
• The perfect one
• Self-begotten
• Ejected from himself
• Shu - the air
• Tefenet - the moisture

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Next

• Atum separated the sky from the earth
• Geb the earth
• Nut the sky
• Geb and Nut joined and had children
• The gods Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys
• These gods formed the first level in the
  hierarchy of gods.

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Beliefs About Birth

• Infants were placed in the mothers womb after
  being created on a potters wheel by the god
  Khnum.

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Existence

• Ka
• Spiritual duplicate
• Stored in heart
• At death, separated from body
• Inhabit tomb
• Required food, clothing, perfume, furniture
• Ba
• Character/personality
• Entered body at birth
• Akh
• Mummy that would transform into a form that could
  exist in the afterworld upon death
• Magic spells

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Afterlife

• Duplication of best moments on earth
• Activities enjoyed the most such as hunting,
  fishing, feasting, sailing.
• Death not an end but a beginning.

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Upon Death

• Transition into the afterlife.
• Series of judgments and obstacles they had to
  pass to enter.
• Weighing of the Heart
• Book of the Dead -gt survival guide

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Preparation for the Afterlife

1. Body must be preserved in lifelike form
2. Body must be provided with items necessary for
   afterlife

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Burial Practices

• Earliest people to settle in the Nile Valley
  buried their dead in pit-graves, which were dug
  in the hot desert sands.
• The dry sand absorbed the bodily fluids and kept
  the body from decaying.

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• As Egyptian burials became more elaborate, the
  bodies were placed in lined tombs.
• Bodies decomposed because there was no sand to
  keep them dry.
• Needed a method of preservation.
• Mummification was the answer!

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When a person died

• Female relatives (and paid mourners) would bare
  their breasts and walk through the streets crying
• Male relatives, bare to the waist would follow,
  pounding on their chests

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Process

• Procession ? body taken to purification tent for
  cleansing and new clothes
• Taken to embalming tent for preservation
  (mummification).
• Embalming priests wore mask of Anubis (god of
  embalming)
• Recited prayers and spells.

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Mummification

• Began in Old Kingdom -gt pharaohs
• By New Kingdom -gt everyone
• Different levels according to wealth.
• Whole process took 70 days.
• 4 Basic Steps

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Step One

• All internal organs (except heart) removed.
• Heart seatbed of intelligence/emotion
• Brain removed through nose and discarded.
• Other organs put in canopic jars.

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Canopic Jars

• Hapy
• baboon-headed god
• protected the lungs
• Duamutef
• jackal-headed god
• protected the stomach
• Qebehsenuef
• falcon-headed god
• protected the intestines
• Imsety
• human-headed god
• protected the liver

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Step Two

• Body packed and covered with natron - a salty
  drying agent.
• Left to dry for 40 days.
• After 40 days only hair, skin and bones
  remained.

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Step Three

• Empty body cavity stuffed with resin, sawdust or
  linen
• Body re-shaped to restore the deceased form and
  features.

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Step Four

• Body tightly wrapped in linens.
• Amulets wrapped between layers.
• objects to bring good luck.
• Scarab beetle over heart
• Priests recited spells and prayers at each
  layer.
• Lasted 15 days

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Procession to the Tomb

• Mummy on sledge
• Canopic jars on sledge
• Servants who carried objects the deceased would
  need

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At the Tomb

• Opening of the Mouth ceremony
• ability to speak and eat
• Mummy placed in coffin, then sarcophagus, then
  burial chamber.
• Goods lowered into place
• Sealed
• Banquet